Related to Isil's post on bullying is an article from the Wednesday NYT on the organizational culture at the Tribune Company. We will talk more about organizational cultures under the symbolic frame, but given that we have started this conversation, I thought I'd pass this on now. According to the article, "[Randy] Michaels’s and his executives’ use of sexual innuendo, poisonous workplace banter and profane invective shocked and offended people throughout the company. Tribune Tower, the architectural symbol of the staid company, came to resemble a frat house, complete with poker parties, juke boxes and pervasive sex talk."
What is fascinating about the "case study" is: 1) the usual debate about whether this style is in fact effective. One board member says, “Randy is a tremendous motivator, very charismatic, but he is very nontraditional, He has the kind of approach that motivates many people and offends others, but we think he’s done a great job.”; 2) the fact that although it sound like a "boys club", female executives also perpetuated the culture (see incident about half way through the article).
The full article is at:
At Flagging Tribune, Tales of a Bankrupt Culture
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/media/06tribune.html
John
No comments:
Post a Comment